In the Blacklight
by Evelyn-ecrivaine
Summary: When Angie meets Thompson and discovers a top secret file about Steve Rogers, she and Peggy embark on a journey with the hope of finally finding Captain America. However, along the way, Angie learns something that will lead her on a journey of her own and reunite her with someone from her past.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One- Broadway Constellations**

**Hi everyone! Here's a story with a focus on Angie's point of view. I hope you enjoy it and feel free to let me know what you think and leave a review. I**

**really value all your opinions! Thank you!**

**-Evelyn-ecrivaine**

Angie Martinelli glanced at her watch anxiously while fixing up her breakfast. It was only five-thirty in the morning and she wasn't needed at her new job until seven. Plopping down at the kitchen counter she half-heartedly attempted to eat, but her mind was elsewhere and the piece of toast went untouched. Eventually, the attempts at having breakfast were abandoned and it was time to get ready. A new pale yellow dress the color of sunshine and a simple string of pearls was her final decision for the outfit of the day. As she headed out the door, again making sure she was not going to be late, she paused for a look at herself in the mirror; teeth brushed, hair made up to frame her powdered face, a slight hint of rosiness in her cheeks, eyelashes curled, and a pale pink shade of pink coloring her lips. She began to move towards the door but returned to the mirror, once, twice and finally a third time to check her reflection. After the fourth look in the mirror, Angie decided that her appearance was neat and pretty and left her apartment to begin her first day at her job.

The streets of Manhattan were bustling and busy as usual. Normally, the lively atmosphere of city made Angie feel right at home, but on this day, she could not afford to be late, or have a cup of coffee accidentally be spilled on her dress, nor her shoes splashed with mud. When she finally arrived at where her new job would be, she stepped back and admired the building. To an outside observer, it was an old rundown theater, considered one of the Broadway theatres, but nonetheless, nothing special and certainly in need of a long-delayed renovation. But for Angie Martinelli, it was much more. It was the place where her wishes and dreams resided. The golden lights that spelled out the theatre name may have seemed gaudy to some, but she viewed them as highly as the constellations of the night sky, an otherworldly sight that was always observed from afar and never close enough to reach. With a grin of excitement, she grasped the doorknob of the entrance and entered the theatre.

The theatre was only dimly lit; Angie was early, the light crew had not yet arrived and the theatre was empty. Finding no better way to pass the time, she made her way up to the stage and timidly walked on. It was her first time actually standing on a Broadway stage. Reaching the center, she looked out into the darkened seats of the audience and imagined the crowd standing and cheering. The spotlight would shine and she would gratefully acknowledging the applause with smiles and a curtsey. _Better practice now,_ she thought to herself, and bobbed down in a little bow.

"Miss Martinelli, we pay you to be a stagehand here, not a performer!"

Angie quickly straightened and looked out into the audience to see the stage manager who had hired her a week ago.

"I'm sorry Mr Johnston," she mumbled with embarrassment, "I was early, and thought to pass the time…"

Johnston rolled his eyes. "If I wanted you on stage I would have hired you as an actress, Martinelli. Now off the stage."

Angie nodded and quickly obeyed.

Johnston spoke again with thinly veiled annoyance. "Your job here is quite simple, you run errands, whether it be for me, or the actors or the other stage people here; the customers and lighting designers. Do what you're told, and you won't lose your job. Clear?"

Angie nodded rapidly, eager to redeem herself after the embarrassing stage incident.

"Fair enough. Now go make yourself useful."

As people began to arrive at the theater for the workday, Angie was introduced to one person after another as the new stagehand. Immediately there was an endless stream of errands to run. Coffee to make, script notes to write, props to organize, the list extended into infinity. When the day was finally over, Angie's new job proved itself to be far more exhausting and far less exciting than she had expected. She hardly wanted to go work a waitressing shift at the L&amp;L Automat. Her only hope was that her friend Peggy Carter would there. Though sometimes overly quiet, Peggy was one of her only friends. Angie wearily made her way to a bus stop and towards her second job. Luckily, Peggy was at the automat that night and patiently waited for Angie's shift to be done.

Peggy smiled as her friend approached. "How was the new job?"

"Terrible."

Peggy sighed. She could certainly relate to the experience. The day at the SSR had hardly been enjoyable. However, there would be no confiding her frustrations to her friend, since Angie believed that she worked at a telephone company. Plus, it would hardly be right to burden Angie with her own problems, when her friend seemed already so upset. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked.

Angie sighed. "Well English, there's not much to say. It was terrible."

"But Angie, on the bright side, you're working in a theater-"

"As a stagehand. The biggest part of my day was getting coffee."

Peggy paused for a moment and tried to conjure up something that would cheer her friend. "Angie, I know how you feel. That what you want is so far away. But make the best out of what you have for now and I bet good things will come your way." She smiled reassuringly.

Angie grinned, "You know, English, I wouldn't believe that advice if it came from anyone else.

* * *

However, despite trying to make the best out of things, Angie's second day at work went no better than the first. After work, she headed for the library. The librarian who greeted Angie smiled and politely asked, "Hi, what can I help you with?"

"I'm looking for the old newspaper clippings on Captain America."

"Oh, someone else just asked for them, he's sitting over there," she gestured to someone sitting at a table across the library.

"Okay, I'll go ask for them myself, thank you."

Angie walked over to the man looking at the articles.

"Excuse me, could I maybe see those, when you're done?"

He didn't look up. _Gosh, how awkward,_ Angie thought to herself. She cleared her throat, "'Ummm, 'scuse me?"

Still no response. She sighed and tapped on his shoulder, finally getting his attention. Angie smiled shyly when he met her gaze. _How handsome he is!_ she thought. Certainly not in the flashy, showy way of an actor but he had a cool and calm look about him. After a moment, finally remembering to speak she asked again, "Can I take a look of those articles when you're done?"

"Oh, yes of course," he said distractedly and returned to his stack of papers without another word.

Being left standing awkwardly Angie jokingly asked, "Are you going to be done today?"

He looked up again, missing the joke. "Yes, just a moment, I'll be done."

"Okay, I'll just umm sit here then." Angie gracelessly plopped down into the seat across from him, topping off the incredibly awkward moment.

After what seemed like an eternity of only the soft sound of readers turning pages around them, the man finally looked up at Angie and wordlessly passed the stack of newspaper clippings towards Angie.

"Thank you," she said with a smile. "Could I have the rest of them please?"

The man looked down at the stack of papers that sat on the table in front of him and closed the manilla folder that held them. "Sorry, ah, you can't have these. Top secret." he said with mock seriousness.

"Oh… I see, well probably for the best then, I'm not exactly a very good secret keeper," Angie smiled, keeping up the charade.

"So… Are you a big Captain America fan or something?"

"No actually, I'm trying out for this part, Betty Carver, in this radio special called _The Captain America Adventure Program,_ and it's based off of the real Captain America, so I thought I'd do some research." She paused, "I'm an actress, or well trying to be one anyways," she chuckled with a hint of bitterness.

He nodded, "I see. And do you really love theatre?"

"Yes, a lot. I'm Angie, by the way. Anyways, what do you do?"

"I'm a writer."

"Really, that's so interesting. I love to read!" she exclaimed. "Poetry or novels?"

He shrugged. "All sorts of writing, really."

Angie nodded, eager to hear more, "Have you got anything published?"

Her excitement was beginning to make him uncomfortable. "Not yet, no."

She nodded, "I know the feeling, I haven't got my big break on Broadway yet, but it'll come eventually." Angie was so happy to have someone to talk to that when she realized he was repeatedly checking his watch, a look a disappointment crossed her face.

The look did not go unnoticed by the man, and he suddenly felt terrible for disappointing such a clearly lonely girl who needed company. It was unusual for him to be so in tune with the feelings of those around him, usually he was so immersed in his work. But, there was something very special about the sweet, friendly girl he had met; he so rarely encountered traits like hers. "Listen, so I'm free tomorrow morning," he started, "Would you like to maybe go out for breakfast at the bakery by the museum? You know the one?"

Angie nodded with a smile and a laugh. "I'll need your name first, though."

"Oh, right. It's Thompson, Jack Thompson."

"It's nice to meet you, Jack Thompson."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2- To become a Spy**

**Hi everyone! Here's chapter 2 and things start to pick up! I promise there will be lots of excitement coming up soon! Feel free to let me know what you think! Enjoy!**

**-Evelyn-ecrivaine**

The next day, Angie set off to work in a far better mood than she had left it the day before. It was, of course, because she was headed to breakfast with Jack Thompson. She arrived at the cafe and walked over to sit across from him, smiling when he noticed her.

She grinned as she sat down across from him.

"Why do you look so giddy?" Thompson asked casually.

Angie shrugged, trying to fake indifference. "Oh nothing." She certainly wasn't going to tell Jack that she had neither gone out for breakfast or gone on anything resembling a date for a very long time.

They two ordered and waited for their food while chatting about little, insignificant things; the weather, favorite parts of the city, all small talk that had no importance.

When their food arrived, Angie was starving, but didn't want to seem impolite, so she daintily picked at her food like a bird, once in a while looking up at Thompson.

It was during one of her quick glances up from her plate that she noticed Peggy walk into the cafe.

"Peggy!" she called out and waved. The sudden greeting caught both Peggy's attention and Thompson's, whose face suddenly took on an unreadable expression.

"Hello English!" Angie exclaimed, clearly happy to see her friend.

"Hello Angie," Peggy bent down to give her friend a hug and glanced to see who was sitting opposite her.

Her eyebrows raised in surprise, "Thompson, I didn't know, you and Angie were friends."

"We're really more like acquaintances," he replied casually and was met by a disappointed look from Angie. "We met over a conversation at the library."

Peggy laughed, "You at the library, Thompson? Why that's unheard of! What was the conversation about?"

Angie was eager to rejoin the conversation, and feeling left out she quickly replied to Peggy's question. "We were talking about Captain America."

Peggy's face suddenly fell. Confused, Angie asked, "What's wrong, English? I know you're not really a big fan or anything, getting bored?"

At this, Thompson raised his eyebrows to see Peggy's reaction to the light-hearted comment. Peggy lowered her eyes, feigning tiredness, there was no way to explain her reluctance to talk about Steve to Angie, and she was certain Thompson had heard the stories at the SSR about her bond with him. She settled on shaking her head, and simply saying, "Oh nothing, just a bit tired," and excused herself, saying she had a bus to catch.

As she walked away, Angie turned to Thompson with a confused look. "Was it something I said?"

He shook his head indifferently, "Don't think so."

"So, how do you two know each other?"

"Ah, mutual friends."

"Oh, I see."

* * *

Later that day, Angie showed up to work her shift at the automat. Despite the awkward meeting at the cafe earlier that day, she was delighted when Peggy walked in.

"Hello Peggy! Jack told me you guys had mutual friends or something, that's so cool that we all know each other, what a small world right?" Peggy listened patiently as Angie chattered on endlessly about Thompson. She was only half listening since her mind was occupied with thoughts of Steve. She was interrupted from her pondering when Angie addressed a question to her, "Do you think he likes me?"

She blinked a few times, "I'm sorry, who?"

Angie laughed disbelievingly, "Jack, of course, who else have we been talking about for the last ten minutes?"

Peggy didn't know what to say. She didn't want to tell Angie that Thompson wasn't going to be the Prince Charming that Angie expected and that he truly meant it when he said they were only acquaintances. Thompson seemed to like Angie well enough, but he was still clearly just her acquaintance, which was far less than what Angie expected. That was not, however, what was bothering Peggy. Her mind was stuck on Thompson. Well, more accurately Steve, but Thompson was involved. A week ago, Thompson had been given a cream colored manilla folder that had been labeled "Top Secret" to take home for studying. There had been nothing else written on the outside but when Peggy dropped off Thompson's coffee while he was on break, she had accidentally knocked the folder off the desk and upon reorganizing the folder, she'd realized that the papers were all about Steve. Of course, Peggy was too clever to be caught reading top secret files that weren't for her, so she had calmly set the folder back on the desk.

None of it made sense. Thompson was an experienced SSR agent, who no doubt knew all the details about the super-soldier program and Captain America. So the only explanation for why he would have that folder, was if there was new information. It was certainly a stretch, but Peggy was desperate for any hope that Steve could have miraculously survived and might be rescued.

"English? You look kinda pale, you okay?"

Peggy blinked a few times in surprise. "I'm alright, just a lot on my mind," she smiled.

"Oh, alright. Well, feel better!"

"Thank you Angie."

As Peggy left the cafe, she realized something. It would be easy for Angie to get the folder. After all, she seemed to be on far friendlier terms with him and Peggy was. Angie could find the folder, copy the information and give it to Peggy. She had to find out if there was news about Steve. But how could she ask her friend, her only friend who wasn't caught up in secrets and lies to do just that and become a spy?


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3- Just Wondering

The next morning, Angie got ready for her job at the automat as usual. She was working the morning waitressing shift and going to work at the theatre later that day. When she walked in, Peggy immediately met her at the door.

"Angie, I need to ask you something. I need you to do me a favor. A big favor."

"Oh, umm sure English, what is it?"

Peggy paused for a long moment. It was now or never, should she ask Angie to take the folder? More than anything, she wanted to find out what the papers said about Steve, what if it was a clue on how to save him? She longed to tell Angie about her dilemma, her stressful life as an agent. The world was such a lonely place when there was no one to talk about it with. But how could she pull Angie into it? "Could you maybe lend me that dress you were wearing yesterday at breakfast?"

"That's all, English? Sure, no problem, that's hardly what I'd call a big favor, What kind of friend would I be if I couldn't even do that?"

Peggy shrugged and forced a laugh, "Well anyways, thanks Angie."

Angie smiled, "No problem, Peggy," she called as she walked away.

Peggy sighed, she had done the right thing by not asking Angie to steal the folder. But, was it the right thing to ignore a chance to save Steve? How could she, of all people let him down? She had already done that once, she hadn't been able to save him when he had crashed his plane. She had to make it up to him.

* * *

That night, as Peggy sat in her apartment, it occurred to her to call up an old friend. She slid over to the side of the sofa that was closer to the phone and dialed the number. She knew it by heart, of course, she had dialed it so many times during the war. It rang once, twice,

"Hello?"

"Howard? It's Peggy."

"Hm?"

"Peggy Carter."

"Peg! Of course I knew that! I was just tired, you woke me up, you know it's one in the morning?"

Peggy glanced at the clock on the wall, "No, but I do now. Howard?

"Yes?"

"Are you awake?"

"Well I am now."

Peggy smiled to herself, only Howard could be so witty after being woken up at one in the morning. She sighed, how could she ask her question without sounding ridiculous? Taking another deep breath, she blurted it out without pausing.

"DoyouthinkStevecould'vesurvivedthecrash?"

Silence, was he even still listening, or did he fall asleep on the line? "Howard?"

"Slow down a bit, Peg."

"Do you think Steve could have survived the crash?" It was a relief to ask the question after it had occupied her mind for so long. "Because you once said that he could go without food or water for longer than the normal person, right? So what if he's still in the Arctic somewhere? Surely, there's a way to try and find the plane?"

Howard sighed from the other end of the line, "Peg, I'm sorry to disappoint you but I've looked all over for him, and the plane's nowhere we can find. I'm sorry."

"But theoretically, he could have survived without any food or water or warmth, right?"

"Peg, that was two years ago. Why are you asking all of a sudden, anyways?"

"I- no reason, just wondering. Sorry to wake you up Howard, good night."

"Alright Peg, goodnight."

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Jack Thompson sat at his desk in his apartment. On top of the large stack of papers in front of him was the folder labeled "top secret." It was such an honor that Chief Dooley had entrusted him to keep the folder safe. He opened the folder every few seconds, glanced inside for a moment, then shut it again. He smiled to himself, no one could've done a better safekeeping job. He smiled to himself with satisfaction, each page inside the folder was blank.

* * *

The next morning at the SSR, Peggy was again assigned to the monotonous job of getting coffee. When she set the mug down on Thompson's desk, instead of walking away, she stood there waiting until he noticed her.

"Can I help you, Agent Carter?"

Peggy smiled and asked innocently, "I was just wondering how you and Angie became such good friends?"

Thompson replied with a chuckle, "We're really not that close, Carter, I don't know why you care so much.

"She's my friend, and she seems to think that you two are far more than acquaintances. And she thinks you're a writer, you ought to tell the truth.

"Well, I was just trying to be friendly since she seemed so lonely. And anyways, in that case, you ought to tell Agent Sousa that you two are just acquaintances, and not give him false hope, then, am I right?"

Peggy rolled her eyes and walked away, this was getting nowhere.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**Hi everyone! Here's chapter 4 for you! I hope you enjoy it, there's quite a surprise towards the end of the chapter! Thank you lots!**

**-****-Evelyn-ecrivaine**

"What would you like to order, ma'am?"

Peggy looked up at the waitress standing in front of her table. She was disappointed it wasn't Angie, but she knew that her friend had an important audition to go to. She remembered that Angie had told her about going to try out for the part of Betty Carver, in a Captain America radio special. Peggy thought how Betty Carver was supposedly based off of herself. The name was almost the same and she couldn't imagine the coincidence had been for nothing. However, Peggy doubted it would be an honest portrayal. Sometimes, stories could only be experienced, and not told. Nothing could recreate the times she had journeyed with Steve during the war. The thought that her stories, no matter how inaccurate, would be shared with anyone listening to the radio made her feel somewhat nostalgic and sad. She realized the waitress was still standing in front of her waiting for her to speak. "No, not right now, I'll order later, thank you." She nodded politely and walked away, leaving Peggy once again to become lost in her thoughts. Suddenly, a little girl went running by and tripped over Peggy's purse, which was sitting on the ground. The girl tumbled over and Peggy quickly bent down to help her.

"Are you all right?"

The girl embarrassedly stood and brushed off her dress. "Yes ma'am," she murmured softly. Her mother strode over to help her daughter up and apologize.

"I'm so sorry, she's very energetic today, can I help you clean up your stuff?"

"No, that's alright," Peggy smiled.

As they walked off, Peggy overheard the mother gently tell her daughter, "Emily, you must run around without knowing where you're going!"

"Yes mama, I know. Now can you please tell me about Captain America?"  
Peggy looked up in surprise. She hadn't expected to hear about Steve, when she had just been musing about him moments ago. Despite telling herself to mind her own business, she craned to hear what the lady would say to her daughter.

"Why do you want to hear about him, sweetie?"

"All the kids at school always talk about him."

"Well, he was very strong and daring. But that's not the best part, because he was also very kind and brave too. We should all try to be like him, Emily."

The words filled Peggy with pride. She remembered how the small, skinny boy she had met in Brooklyn had been so brave and kind long before he had become Captain America.

"What happened to him, Mama?"

"Oh sweetheart, he was lost while fighting to defend our country. But we must always remember what he did for all of us."

Peggy took a deep breath. What if there was hope of finding Steve and saving him? What if he wasn't lost forever?

* * *

"Angie?"

"English?" Angie's light, peppy voice sounded through the telephone line and reached Peggy's ears. Her friend's cheerfulness filled her with warmth and she immediately regretted what she was about to ask of Angie. No, she couldn't hesitate, she had to give herself a chance to find Steve.

"Angie? Can you meet me at the diner in five minutes?"

"Oh! Umm now? Can you get there that fast?"

"Yes, I'm already there."

"Is everything okay, Peg?"

"Yeah, everything's okay. I just need to talk too you."

"Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can."

* * *

Ten minutes passed. Peggy tapped her foot as she was overcome with impatience. Where was Angie? Finally she saw her friend walk through the door hurriedly and smiled.

"Angie, thanks for coming."

"Sure English, what's going on?"

Peggy didn't know how to start, the thought of having to explain everything to Angie all at once made her stomach churn. Who knew if Angie would even believe her? "How was your audition today?" she asked, delaying bringing up Steve, even though she had just been so anxious to tell Angie about her plan to find him.

"Oh, that." Angie sighed. "Didn't get the callback, but," she shrugged faking indifference, "that's okay. So what's up? What did you have to tell me?"

There was no more delaying the subject, and Peggy needed to tell Angie her plan. "Well Angie, you auditioned to play Betty Carver today, right?"

Angie nodded, looking somewhat confused as to why the subject was being turned back to her.

"Well, that character's based off of me. As in, I was in the war. With Steve Rogers. I was a Agent in the SSR which is a secret group for the government. "

Angie's jaw dropped open and she looked and Peggy with incredulity. Peggy Carter from the telephone company, fought in the war as an agent for a secret government group? The only thing she managed to say was "oh."

But, as Peggy slowly explained her story to Angie, everything became more clear, why Peggy never had much time to spend with her friends, how she actually knew Thompson, who was actually an agent too. Then she told Angie about the folder she had discovered with the Captain America papers in it. "I guess I just want a chance to make it up to Steve, because in a way, he saved us all."

"So, you want me to steal the folder from Agent Thompson?" Angie asked.

Peggy nodded. "It'll be easier for you to. You don't have to, but I truly think there is something in there about Steve, something that Howard Stark didn't know when he was looking for him. Angie, I'm asking a favor as a friend, I-" she paused, "I really need your help."

Angie took a sharp breath in. She was conflicted with emotions. She knew it was wrong to take the folder, that was clear. Not to mention the consequences of stealing from the SSR. The folder was top secret for reason. But, Peggy loved Steve, and if there was a chance Angie could help her find him, it was be wrong to ignore the opportunity. After all, Angie knew what it was like to lose someone in the war.

"I'll help you, Peg."

Peggy exhaled with relief, "Oh, Angie thank you so much! But, what about you and Thompson? You are stealing a top-secret folder, you know."

"Oh, erm, well, I'm sure he wouldn't mind." _Of course he would, _Angie thought, _but better to worry about until later._ "Let's shake on it." She needed a handshake for affirmation for herself, she couldn't let herself chicken out now that she'd promised to help.

They shook hands. "I want to help you find Steve, truly. We can't give up until we know we've done everything we can. I-" she paused, "I lost someone in the war too, and I wish I had a chance to see him again."

"Oh Angie, I'm so sorry."

"Yeah, I miss him a lot. Do you want to see a picture?"

Peggy nodded.

Angie took off the locket she wore at her neck and opened it. "This is from the day before he went off to Europe to fight. We went to this, umm what was it called, it was this science expo thing."

Peggy squinted at the picture. "It's all blurry, Angie, I can't really see."

Angie shrugged, "Yeah, his friend who took the picture had kinda shaky hands," she explained.

"What's that you guys are standing in front of?"

"Oh. That?" Angie pointed at the background of the photo "Flying car."

"A flying car?"

Angie nodded, "It didn't really work at the show though."

"Angie, this science expo you went to, was it the World Exposition of Tomorrow?"

Angie nodded vigorously. "Yes! That's what it was called, I remember now! Howard Stark was there, he was the one with the flying car."

Peggy smiled. "Yes, that sounds like Howard, I recall he told me about the malfunction of the car at his show. What a coincidence you were there at Howard's show that day! He'll be helping us with our folder heist."

"Have you told him about it yet?"

"No, but I'm sure he will want to help."

Angie took a deep breath. Folder heist. It sounded silly yet it struck her with a sense of reality. She was about to go steal something. Something top secret. She closed the locket gently. "Well, let's go steal some secrets."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The night before Angie and Peggy were to set their plan in action, Angie sat sleeplessly in her bed, her head plagued by worries. She had turned off the light around nine, knowing it was essential to get a good night's sleep, yet her mind was running at lightning speed. The plan was for her to steal the folder- she knew the password to Thompson's apartment, she'd been over for lunch once- find the folder, take it, investigate it with Peggy and return it before anyone noticed anything had gone amiss. But what if she couldn't find the folder? What if she took the wrong one? What if it wasn't there all together? Peggy had guessed it would be, but still, stealing secrets shouldn't be left to guessing. Angie glanced at the clock on her wall. Two o'clock in the morning. She again tried to close her eyes and sleep, but to no avail. She had to quell her nerves, but she couldn't. The true reason was a matter of her conscience, but Angie wouldn't admit that to herself. Admitting that it was her conscience keeping her from resting her mind would be an admission of her guilt and admission of the fact that she was about to do something wrong. She had, until now, conveniently pushed off thinking about the possible repercussions of her actions, but now it terrified her to come face to face with them. Why should she steal? It was not in her nature to willingly do something wrong. Not even when she had been poor, fresh out of acting school with no money had she resorted to taking something that wasn't hers. Especially from Thompson after all, who had been distant, but hadn't done anything to merit being stolen from. And what kind of trouble would he get into, once the SSR found he had lost the folder? But with luck, she would return it before anyone realized it was missing. The thought reassured her, at least temporarily, and she finally drifted off to sleep.

* * *

The alarm clock rang. A bird chirped loudly outside the window. Angie, groggy with sleep, blinked her eyes and slowly sat up. Her eyelids were heavy and it felt impossible that she could carry out a folder heist today on such little sleep. In fact it felt impossible that she could even make it out of the house. Reluctantly she began her morning routine and went over the plan in her head. A part of her was glad she was so sleepy, it banished her nervousness and replaced it with exhaustion. A much easier thing to deal with than if she was shaking with anxiety. Just before she left the house, Angie hesitated at her normal spot to look in the mirror to check her appearance, but decided the more inconspicuous and plain she looked, the better.

* * *

The clammer of New York City was just the same as it always was while Angie made her way across the city. It was an unusual day only for her, and the sense that the rest of the city was calm and running according to routine made her feel nostalgic for when she was part of the daily bustle of the city, and not carrying out a mission to discover some secret plot. She reached the apartment building within twenty minutes and climbed the stairs to the right door. She paused before opening the little box that she knew contained the keypad to type the password in. Then, she tenderly opened it and typed in the twelve digit passcode. It buzzed and the door clicked open. A part of her had wished that she could've accidentally forgotten the password. No, she couldn't think like that; she had to help Peggy and she would return the folder in the nick of time anyways. She pushed the door open and tiptoed into the apartment, heading towards the office. The room was filled with boxes upon boxes filled with papers, but it seemed that luck was with Angie because the first one she opened had a folder with the words "Top Secret" labeled on the top. It matched the description Peggy had given her the day before and Peggy had said that agents weren't usually allowed to take many files home anyways, so the one she found should be the right one. Angie opened it, just to check.

Blank. The word described both Angie's state of mind and the papers in the folder. Panicked, Angie leafed through the rest of the papers. All of them were blank; not one word was written on any of the sheets. She stood and immediately began to look throughout the room for any other folders that might have been labeled "Top Secret". But even after looking for a half-hour, she could find nothing. Left with no other good option, Angie swept up the folder with the blank papers and hurried out of the office. As she made her way towards the door she bumped into a table, knocking over a lamp, which promptly tumbled to the ground. Angie sighed in frustration; her goal had been to try and leave the room exactly as it was when she had entered it. She was immensely surprised that when she picked up the lamp to return it to the desk, none of it had shattered or broken. Curious, Angie turned it around in her hand and noticed scrawled on the bottom was the word "blacklight". Some faraway memory was called up in her head, and she somehow remembered the blacklights were for reading invisible ink. Could it really be that simple?, she wondered. What good fortune was it that had caused her to so conveniently stumble across exactly what she might have needed to read the blank papers? Clinging to the hope that she was right, Angie snatched up the lamp and rushed out of the apartment.

* * *

A few hours later Angie sat on the floor of her apartment with the papers laid out around her. She wanted to check before Peggy came to investigate with her, if her assumption about the blacklight had been right. She plugged the light in and held it up to the pages. As each ray of light hit the paper, words became faintly visible. _Yes!_ Angie thought. But her initial relief was replaced by bafflement. The first pages weren't labeled Captain America, but instead had the words "Winter Soldier" written all over them. Angie held the light closer to peer at the papers again. There was a photo printed on the page as well; it was of Captain America with his arm around someone who could have only been his best friend. The two were laughing in the photo, looking like as if they had just shared some hilarious joke. Angie gasped and dropped the lamp as she recognized the face of the person who was next to Captain America. It was the same person as the one in the picture in the locket that she always kept with her. It was Bucky, undoubtedly Bucky. Feelings of surprise overwhelmed her and her hands trembled. What was a picture of Bucky doing here? Had everyone she'd known been part of some secret team in the war? Memories of the day before he had left for the war when they had gone to the World Exposition together rushed back to her mind. She read on, the possibility of stopping now impossible. She must have read for two, three hours. Bucky was alive; he was stuck somewhere in Moscow; the coordinates to where he was held were written on the paper. After his fall, he had survived and been captured by the enemy, during the war. The SSR knew all this from a source in Russia, yet they thought it too risky to send agents there to rescue him. The knowledge of Bucky's survival filled Angie with hope that she would see him again, yet even she had no idea how she, someone who was completely inexperienced in doing any rescuing, could save him when trained government agents would not even attempt. When Angie was done reading all the papers on Bucky, she read the rest of the folder. Peggy had been right; there was new information on Captain America. The SSR knew exactly where he was too, but thought it too dangerous to launch a search party for him, in case HYDRA, the enemy, found out about it and got to him first. The coordinates pointed to somewhere in the Arctic that Angie doubted that Howard Stark had looked in, otherwise he would have found him. Angie's thoughts were interrupted by the sudden ring of the telephone, which made her jump in surprise. She ran over and picked up the line.

"Angie?"

"Peg! I got the folder, I-"

"I know! Listen, the SSR knows you took it, or at least they suspect you."

Angie gasped. "How? It's only been a few hours-"

Peggy interrupted her again, needing to get to what she had to say. "Thompson found it missing when he got home, and somehow he suspected you! You need to get out of here!"

Terror struck her. Where would she go? Angie's worst nightmare had come true; everything had gone wrong. "And go where, Peg? I've got nowhere to go! The SSR will be searching half the country!"

"Yes, that's why you have to leave the country. Howard Stark will help you. I've just called him. Let me give you his address. You're to go there right away and you two will leave tonight. Do you have a piece of paper?"

"I can remember it."

Peggy quickly recited an address to Angie, which she promptly memorized. "Now go, Angie. Dress warm and get to Howard's place as quick as you can."

"Alright, I will."

As soon as Angie hung up the phone. she grabbed a suitcase and placed the folder and the blacklight in. She did this all mindlessly because if she gave a thought to how much trouble she was in, there would be no way to get anything done. She grabbed a thick coat from the closet, shrugged it on and quickly found her locket, which she threw on as well. Just before she zipped the suitcase, she hesitated. In a split moment's decision, she reopened the folder and pulled out the first five pages of the papers; the ones she knew were about Bucky. She stuffed the papers in her coat pocket thinking, _I need these with me_. With that she slammed the suitcase shut and ran out the door.

* * *

The taxi ride to Howard's seemed to drag on forever. Angie prayed her quick breathing and shaking hands wouldn't tip the driver off to anything suspicious. When she finally arrived at a huge stately mansion, Angie hastily paid the driver and ran out the door with her suitcase. She was greeted at the door by a gentleman in butler's clothes.

"Hello miss," he started in a thick British accent, "I'm Mr. Jarvis, Mr. Stark's butler. I suspect you're Miss Martinelli?"

The word "suspect" alone made Angie nervous and she had to remind herself that she had made it to Howard's and was safe, at least for the time being. She gulped and nodded.

"Well, then this way, miss. From what Mr. Stark has told me, time is of the essence."

Jarvis led the way through elaborately beautiful mansion to the huge garage of jets that Howard owned. "Here you are, miss. Just wait here, Mr Stark will be here in a moment."

Angie nodded and waited. She twirled her hair nervously as she studied the huge planes around her. How had little Angie been pulled into this huge, terrifying world of spies and secrets? She shifted her weight back and forth between her two feet and desperately tried to calm herself.

"Well, Miss Angie why do you look so nervous?"

Angie spun around to see a handsome young man in a pilot's clothes walking towards her. By his manner, he could only be the one and only Howard Stark. "I'm alright, just a bit worried about the time, that's all," she replied to the ridiculous question.

He smiled in amusement, which made him all the more good-looking. "Of course darling, we are in quite a hurry to get out of here aren't we?"

"Yes, Mr. Stark-"

"Howard, if you don't mind. Jarvis is the only one who calls me Mr. Stark."

"Fair enough, _Howard_," Angie replied with a tone of exasperation, "Can we please go now?"

"First time running from the SSR?"

Angie tried to contain her sarcasm to avoid being impolite, which was uncharacteristic for her, but found it extraordinarily difficult. "Obviously, how'd you guess?"

"Your general lack of calm gave it away, but don't worry I'm quite a pro at it at running from the SSR." He paused, studying Angie's expression. "Oh, don't look so aghast! It was all blown out of proportion anyways, and Agent Carter proved me to be in the right; she proved that I hadn't done anything wrong." He turned to Jarvis, who had just walked in. "Jarvis, are we all set?"

Jarvis nodded for affirmation, "All set, sir."

"Jarvis will be coming along, is that alright, Miss Angie?, he's quite a good pilot. Helps me out when I need to take a rest for my eyes."

"Of course, that's fine," Angie replied. Jarvis seemed polite and well-mannered. A level-headed, calm person would be good for the trip since Angie hardly knew how she was supposed to stay calm with Howard's overly carefree banter.

Howard turned to her again. "Now, the question is, where to? Agent Carter said to fly you wherever you ask."

Angie took a deep breath and recited to coordinates that she had gone over in her head repeatedly in the last hour.

"Russia?" Howard asked. He was experienced with reading maps and was quite sure that was where the coordinates led. "Some clue or lead there on Steve Rogers?"

Angie gulped down the lie. "Yes," she said reluctantly. It wasn't a complete lie, but it was far enough from the truth to be one.

"Fair enough, off to Russia then."

**I hope you liked the chapter, everyone! Again, thank you soooo much for reading and I hope to be posting the next chapter soon!**

**-Evelyn-ecrivaine**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Miss Martinelli, if you'll step onto the plane please?" Angie turned to look at Jarvis, who was waiting expectantly for her to step onboard.

"Oh! I-ummm, would you give me a moment?" she asked, trying to stall. "Could I run to the bathroom?"

"Of course, ma'am. Third door down on the left over there."

Angie grabbed her suitcase and walked as calmly as she could towards where Jarvis directed her. As soon as she reached the bathroom she hurried inside and closed the door firmly, making sure it was locked behind her. She hoped her behavior hadn't been too suspicious; her acting training was coming in handy. Now that they were going to Moscow, nobody but her could know that they were really going to save Bucky and not Steve. Angie slipped her hands into the suitcase and pulled out the blacklight. Then, she slammed it against the wall as hard as she could, but without making too loud of a commotion that could be heard from the outside. The light shattered and Angie jumped back to avoid being cut by one of the flying shards of glass. No one could know the contents of the papers but her. If Howard discovered that they should have been been headed to the Arctic instead of Moscow, her plan would be ruined. Not that it was much of a plan anyways. What she would do when she arrived in Moscow to save Bucky, well, she hadn't thought that far yet. All she knew was that she had to go. The prospect of simply moving on whilst she knew that she could save him was a path that she couldn't take. Peggy had dealt the sadness of the fact that her attempt to save Steve hadn't been enough and Angie knew she did not want to feel that same sorrow.

"Are you ready now, miss?" Jarvis asked politely as she returned towards the plane.

"Yes, of course, sorry for the delay."

Angie climbed the steps up into the plane and buckled herself into the seat. Howard turned around and smiled at her. "Could I take a look of those files, Miss Martinelli?"

"Yes, of course, they're in my suitcase. But I'm afraid you might not be able to read them, I scanned them with a blacklight at Agent Thompson's apartment and unfortunately I left the light there." She grimaced for extra effect.

"No matter, I'd like to take a look later when Jarvis takes over as pilot halfway through."

Angie nodded, "Be my guest, but you won't find anything."

Howard shrugged with indifference. "Oh and you might want to change out of your outfit, it won't work very well with our running around Moscow and all. There's another room back there if you want to change and take a nap. You look a little fatigued," he said jokingly.

His jokes would have been amusing had they not been on such an important mission, but at a time like that, she wished that he could have acted with a little less nonchalance. Angie rolled her eyes and made her way to the back room. On the seat was a black outfit that looked straight out of a spy story. It was rugged yet pretty at the same time. Angie changed into it and sat down by the window. She pulled the curtains up and stared out the window. There wasn't much to see, only the thick grey clouds that the plane drifted through. She soon tired of looking out the window, and with her head resting on hand, she drifted off to a long-needed sleep.

* * *

"_Hey Bucky!" Angie started at her sound of her own voice, which sounded disconnected and unreal._

_Bucky walked towards her and her friend, handsome in his tan officer's uniform. Funnily enough, she now recognized the small boy next to him as Steve Rogers._

"_Come on Angie, they're playing our song."_

_Angie reached out to take his hand, but no matter how far she stretched, he was just out of reach._

"_Come on Angie, they're playing our song."_

"_I'm trying, I can't reach you."_

"_Angie, they're playing our song. Aren't you coming?"_

"_Yes, I can't reach you!"_

"_Angie, they're playing our song!" Bucky's voice echoed, filling the space around Angie's ears and slowly getting quieter and quieter._

"_Wait!"_

* * *

Angie's eyes blinked open and she gasped for air. She was staring at the ceiling of the plane. It was just a dream. She rolled onto her side and sat up, still taking in the fact that what had just happened was only a dream. The ever present hum of the engine had stopped. She looked out the window curiously. The plane had landed, for what it seemed to be refueling. However, there was no one outside pumping gas into the plane and Angie wondered what the delay could be for. If anything, her dream had reinforced her need to get to Moscow and rescue Bucky as soon as she could. She stood and opened the door towards the front of the plane.

"Why are we taking so long?" she asked, not bothering to announce herself.

Howard turned around. "Refueling," he explained simply.

Angie paced impatiently. "But there's no one outside fueling the plane. We can't delay for too long, it'll take time away from the mission-"

"Which isn't what you said it was."

Angie paused for a moment and looked up, not knowing what to reply. "You must be mistaken," she finally said. "I don't know what your talking about-"

"Oh, but I think you do," Howard interrupted, staring at the ground and avoiding her eye contact, which she hoped to use as reinforcement of her honesty. "I think you do know exactly what I'm talking about. You are an good liar, I'll give you that. I'd even say you were a good spy if only you'd known that anyone even remotely involved with this sort of," he paused mid sentence to ponder his words, "espionage thing, would have access to a blacklight in half a moment."

Angie inhaled sharply. His expression were so charming and exuded such an air of nonchalance, that she could almost forget that they were entangled in a web of lies in that very moment. "And? What did you find, Howard? Accuse me of what you would like."

He scoffed. "I'm not going to accuse you of anything. Don't assume me to be an unreasonable judge. You seem like a decent girl and if Agent Carter trusts you, you must have some redeeming quality. There must be a good reason for your deceit. Therefor, I'll withhold accusations and judgements. I will tell you only what I know, and that is the coordinates that you gave me do not even remotely match up with the coordinates of Steve Rogers' supposed location in the files I looked at, as one is in Moscow and the other somewhere over the Arctic. Now if you value my help in this mission, I think it would be helpful for you to tell me what is going on."

Angie looked down and fidgeted with her locket. She wanted to avoid eye contact when she confessed to lying. "Yes- you're right. I gave you different coordinates." She paused and looked up, "But, I didn't do it for nothing. I needed you to help me save someone."

"Who?"

"Bucky Barnes."

Howard nodded, surprising Angie with his calmness and lack of surprise. "Sergeant Barnes, huh?"

"Yes, he's a friend of mine and until today, I'd thought he was lost in the war. But in that folder with the Captain America files, there were also papers about Bucky. They said he was held prisoner in Moscow and they called him the "Winter Soldier".

At the words "Winter Soldier," Howard involuntarily shuddered. He'd heard plenty of rumors among the intelligence groups he knew of about the supposed "Winter Soldier," and none of them were pleasant. He was believed to be a genetically modified soldier fighting for HYDRA. If Bucky was this supposed "Winter Soldier," he had to have been brainwashed. He would remember nothing of his past at all.

"Maybe that's their codename for American soldiers they captured in the winter?"

Angie's question pulled Howard out of his thoughts. He forced a "maybe" for Angie's sake in response to her question, and suppressed his thoughts about if this was the same "Winter Soldier," he'd heard about. If it was, he thought, it would be impossible for them to rescue him. He glanced at Angie to tell her the bleak news, but he could not bring himself to so fiercely disappoint the girl in front of him, even though he had only known her less than a day. "Do you have these Winter Soldier files with you, by any chance?"

Angie nodded eagerly, clearly thinking this was a sign that Howard would help her, and walked towards the back room of the plane. She returned with her coat, from which she pulled a bunch of crumpled papers. "Here," she said, handing the files towards Howard.

He carried them over to the blacklight, which he had plugged in by the front of the plane, and examined the pages. He was sorely disappointed by the time he finished reading; he learned nothing from the papers. The reports he had received from his intelligence groups had been far more detailed. He looked up from his reading to see Angie eagerly waiting for him to speak.

"So?"

He sighed. "What do you want me to say, Angie?"

"That you'll help me."

"And what do you expect me to say?"

"That you'll help me?" Angie said with a hopeful grin but with less certainty.

Howard stood reluctantly. "Why do I get myself into these situations?"

"You will help me!" Angie laughed and threw her arms around Howard. "Thank you so much," she whispered gratefully.

Howard chuckled, "Thank me later by explaining to Agent Carter why we're not off saving Steve Rogers."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

They landed in Moscow within a few hours. When the plane finally slowed to a stop after a rough landing, Howard climbed out of the jet to speak with the officials in charge on the runway. Angie looked out the window, anxious to finally venture into Moscow.

"What do you think he's saying?" she asked Jarvis, who was sitting in the pilot's seat.

He turned to answer Angie's question. "Oh, I'm not really sure, but it always seems to work out, so I wouldn't worry," he said, reassuringly.

When Howard reentered the plane, Angie rushed up to him. "Well, will it all work out?"

"Yes, of course. Have you no faith in me?" he asked with a grin.

"I- I, well I do, but I didn't think that knowing who you are and how you worked for the SSR, they would let us stay here," she said matter-of-factly. "Since the US and Russia aren't the best of friends at the time."

"First of all, darling, I didn't work for the SSR and secondly, I'm sure they in fact, _do_ know who I am, but are willing to forget for a little bit of cash. Or considering who I am, quite _a lot_ of cash."

Angie giggled causing Howard to join in laughing, revelling in the fact that he had finally gotten a smile from the serious girl. "So, shall we go?" he asked.

Angie nodded. "Do you have a plan? Because I don't."

"The plan is to go. And while we go, we will make up a plan. So I suppose yes, I have a plan."

Howard slid open the door and began to descend the ladder, swinging a heavy backpack over his shoulder. He held out a hand to Angie. Angie began to follow him but then paused. "Jarvis," she removed her locket and handed it towards him, "Could you keep this safe for me?"

"Of course ma'am, as if it was my own."

Angie smiled gratefully and stepped onto the ladder, not knowing what would happen next, but feeling sure that she was ready to see Bucky again.

* * *

As Angie and Howard made their way through the streets of Moscow, the wind howled around them and snow began to fall. It was only around seven in the evening, but already the streets were quiet and lonely. Angie thought about how in New York, by this time, the streets would be all lit up with a thousand glittering light bulbs and there would be constant hum of conversations all around the city. The thought made her terribly homesick and she tried to push away the feeling. "Now do you have a plan?" she asked, keeping her thoughts away from home.

"Yes, it is already in motion," Howard replied. "I checked the coordinates you gave me to an exact spot earlier. We're walking towards it now."

"And how exactly are we going to get in?"

"Yes, I've thought about that too" Howard pulled out a small device that looked like a flashlight from his coat pocket. "This, will burn through any door. We can simply cut the lock out of the door."

Angie gave him a skeptical look and shrugged. She couldn't think of a better plan at the moment in her nervousness so they were forced to settle on that one.

* * *

When they arrived at the location it looked inconspicuous enough. It was a light great building on a thin, winding road. There was no one patrolling the outside, so their plan worked surprisingly well. They snuck into the building without even a questioning or being spotted. After ten minutes of looking around, they saw no one. The deserted state of the building eased some of Angie's worries, yet it was disconcerting and made her uneasy at the same time. She had the unpleasant feeling that something was about to jump out at her from the sparse emptiness. After another five minutes, they finally heard the sound of distant footsteps. Both of them instinctively rushed behind a wall and held their breath. Angie pursed her lips tightly to stop herself from making a sound in terror. The footsteps approached closer and closer and a confrontation seemed inevitable. Finally, she couldn't bear the suspense any longer and peered around the corner.

It was a group of soldiers, clothed in all dark grey. They walked in no formation or line, but were led by one man who stood out from all the others. He was taller and had that unmistakable look of leadership on his face. To Angie's surprise, she recognized him.

"Bucky?"

Howard immediately pulled her away from the soldiers who would be there to capture them any moment, but despite their efforts to evade capture, the soldiers were upon them in a second. Angie shut her eyes tight in horror when they dragged Howard away and only opened them when she felt freezing steel enclose her wrist. She instinctively pulled her arm away in surprise and found that she could not. She saw that it was a metal hand that had grabbed her wrist. At that moment she let out an involuntary squeak and glanced up.

"Bucky?" Despite already saying his name once and revealing Howard and her hiding spot, she had to ask again for she couldn't wrap her head around the unbelievable fact that it was Bucky who now blankly glared back at her.

"Bucky, it's me. Angie." Her throat went dry and her voice silent. Bucky still glared back at her; there was not a shred of recognition in his gaze. Another soldier walked up to Bucky and murmured in his ear. To her great surprise, Bucky answered in Russian, still not acknowledging Angie's calling of his name. She came to the realization that whoever had captured Bucky had taken his memories. Angie felt a sickening feeling in her stomach. It was that of absolute despair, the unmistakable point where all hope had to be given up.

The soldier silently led Angie to a bare, dark cell and unceremoniously locked the door. He then strode away, rejoining Bucky at the end of the hall.

"James Buchanan Barnes!" It was a last ditch effort by Angie and she silently hoped with all her might that it might have some effect. She squinted to see Bucky slowly turn around, a look of confusion and pondering crossing his face. But then, as quickly as it had came, the look disappeared and he stormed away.

Angie inhaled sharply and sank to her knees. She bit her lip and tried to not cry but she knew the tears were coming and she quickly wiped at her eyes and buried her face in her hands. The salty tears clouded her eyes and made her nose run. The cold was beginning to bother her more and more and her toes began to lose feeling. For all her years in acting school, she had been told countless times that she had never been able to capture despair correctly in a performance. Angie now wished she could take back all the times she had wished she could understand it, for now, experiencing it for the first time, it exhausted her and it felt as if took every fiber in her body just to keep from dissolving into complete anguish. Sobs wracked her body until she ached all over, her eyes were dry and her throat hurt. Finally, Angie sat there unmoving, having used up all emotion in herself. The cold slowly froze her tears and pulled the warmth out of her. Desperately, she searched her pockets to see if there was something, anything to help her get warmer: a match, a lighter, or a pair of gloves. Her hands returned with only a pen and a scrap of paper, which was no use to her unless she had something to burn it with. With what seemed like mammoth effort, Angie uncapped the pen and unfolded the paper. It was blank. Ever so slowly, she began to write out one letter at a time. The letters were almost illegible; the cold had taken away any ability she had to write neatly, but the cragged letters slowly formed words.

_Dear Bucky,_

_I hope maybe you find this someday. It's from Angie and I hope you remember who I am. I don't even mind if you only remember the embarrassing things about me: how I snort when I laugh and how I always manage to spill my food. When you do remember who you are, and I won't say "if you ever do," because I have faith in you. When you remember, I hope that you will know that I didn't give up on you. Not even now, when you don't have a clue who I am. Please know that you meant the world to me and to the little boy from Brooklyn who came with us to the Science Expo. He went on to be Captain America, you know. I just wanted to tell you that. I'm going to stop writing now because my eyes are quite heavy and my hands hurt from the cold. I think I'll close my eyes and hope I dream of the day we went dancing before you left. I don't know how long I'm going to be in this cell. Might be years. But, if I know you will find this, I don't mind waiting at all._

Angie was too tired to sign her name, so with the last bit of strength she had left, she hauled herself up to the tiny window in the cell and threw the letter out of it. Finally filled with a small measure of content, she laid down on the cold cement floor and fell asleep.

**Thank you so much to everyone for reading! I hope to post the next chapter soon!**

**-****-Evelyn-ecrivaine**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

**Hi everyone! Sorry this is really just a mini-chapter, I hope you enjoy it! Hopefully chapter 9 will be coming soon. Thank you!**

**-Evelyn-ecrivaine**

Angie didn't know how long she stayed in the cell, stuck halfway between dreams and wakefulness. The small patch of light disappeared and reappeared but she lost track of the count and days blended into each other. She remembered bits of food and water being shoved between the bars and herself eagerly devouring them but still the time went on with her only half aware of her own existence. Finally, after what seemed like an infinite amount of time waiting for something to happen; something did happen. It was on a frigid day that found Angie huddled in the corner of the cell that was least exposed to the wind blowing in from the window. With each gust, more snowflakes would blow inside and Angie would pull her coat tighter around herself, desperately trying to stay warm. Eventually she fell into a reverie, and forgot about the cold that engulfed the space around her. It was at the sound of someone calling her name that she was pulled back to reality.

"Angie! Howard!"

Could it be Peggy? Angie craned her neck around to try and see her friend, but all she could hear was the disconnected, distant voice that called out to her. She tried to reply, but days in the cold cell and taken her voice away, and the only sound she could make was a raspy, hoarse whisper which dissolved into violent coughing.

Then all of a sudden, she saw her. There was Peggy, with a host of SSR agents, rushing towards her. Peggy approached the door and kicked it open forcefully.

"Angie! Are you alright?"

Angie managed to nod but, she could hardly speak. Every sound seemed some loud and echoing, and her head was beginning to hurt with the dizziness that came with trying to sit up.

"Thompson, help her up."

Angie saw Thompson step out from behind Peggy and gently lift her up onto his arms.

Filled with a pang of guilt for getting them all into this trouble in the first place, Angie whispered, "I am so sorry-"

"It's okay, we'll talk later," Thompson interrupted.

Angie nodded, glad to not have to worry at the moment about apologizing and drifted off into sleep.

* * *

The next thing Angie knew, she was wrapped in a warm blanket, sitting in the seat of a plane. She sat up slowly and rubbed her eyes.

"Peggy?"

Peggy and Thompson instantly turned their heads to look at her.

"Angie we're so glad that you're okay."  
Angie began to apologize and explain, but Peggy stopped her and told her there was no need to apologize. Howard had explained everything.

"You're not angry at me?"

Peggy shook her no. "Trust me, I understand why you had to go try and save Bucky first."

Angie nodded. "Where are we going now?" she asked. She hoped they were going back to save Bucky again, but she knew it was impossible. They couldn't go back. At least not yet.

Peggy smiled. "We're going to find Steve now."

* * *

A few hours later, while Angie was staring out the window, she saw Thompson walk by in the reflection.

"Thompson!"

He turned around and raised his eyebrows, prompting to her say whatever it was that she had to.

"I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused you," she said softly. Even though her thoughts were far away, she couldn't bear having Thompson upset with her.

Thompson kept his expression blank but strode over and sat next to Angie. She wished with all her heart that he would forgive her.

"Well, it's Angie, there's nothing to say. Let's just hope that we save Captain America so I can get my job back at the SSR." With that he walked away, leaving Angie still sitting in her spot, unsure of what she could do to regain his trust.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

After a while, Angie slowly nodded off into a light doze. The last few weeks had been the among most tiring experiences of her life yet she did not want to fall asleep now. Sleeping risked nightmares and the only thing she wanted to do at the moment was to rejoice in her rescue. She had made it, she hadn't been condemned to live the rest of her life in the freezing cell. The sheer joy of that realization seemed to keep her mind awake and alert for hours. Nonetheless, she fell asleep anyways but was awakened shortly afterwards by the sound of loud whispers. She blinked her eyes open but stayed still, feigning sleep, wanting to catch whatever was being discussed without her in tense whispers.

"The reason it was top secret…" Angie heard the sound of Thompson's voice trailing off and she strained to hear what he was about to say.

Luckily Peggy asked the question for her. "Thompson, just tell me. How bad could it be? Honestly?"

A sigh. "The reason it was top secret is because the SSR suspects there are HYDRA spies among them. I was given the file to make sure it didn't fall into the wrong hands."

There was a long silence. Then Peggy finally murmured, "Then we had better get to Steve before they do."

"Agreed."

Angie decided that now would be a good time to get up. She stretched her arms and yawned, making it known that she was awake.

"Angie! You're awake," Peggy smiled.

"Yes, are we close to where Steve is now?"

Peggy nodded eagerly. "Yes, only about an hour left of flight. Isn't that right, Thompson?"

"Yes." He made a point of avoiding Angie's gaze.

The next hour seemed to never end. Now, knowing that they were racing against the clock and HYDRA, Angie willed time to go faster, so they could reach Steve. When they finally landed she was the first one to the door of the plane. Just before she shoved open the door in haste and impatience, Peggy stopped her and said, "We have to wait for Howard and Jarvis, their jet will be here soon."

So it was more waiting. Angie paced the length of the plane, tapping her feet, wringing her hands. Patience had never been her strong point and now, determined that Steve would not be reached by HYDRA first, her level of impatience was at an all time high. When Peggy finally gave the cue for them to leave the plane, she jumped out right away and promptly began shivering uncontrollably. In her haste, Angie had quite forgotten that this was the Arctic and she now regretted not thinking of the frigid temperatures sooner. Seeing Angie's shivering, Thompson wordlessly took off his coat and handed it to her.

"Thanks," Angie tried to say through her chattering teeth, but her effort was wasted since he walked away before she could finish expressing her gratitude.

With the extra coat, she was warmer, but that hardly made the half an hour walk through the freezing cold any easier. Angie now scoffed inwardly at all the times she had endlessly complained about the New York City winters. After around ten minutes, Angie's nose was already red, her cheeks numb and her hands stinging with pain from the cold. The wind stirred up snow from the ground which would block the group's view of the ground just in front of them. It was just at the end of one of these whirlwinds of snow, that Peggy suddenly exclaimed, "There is is!" She rushed forward before any of the others could see what she was pointing at, but after another moment, they could all see what resembled the wing of a huge jet sticking out from the ice.

Peggy was racing forward, no prospect of stopping at waiting for her companions was on her mind. She had waited too long for this moment and now that it had arrived, getting to the jet was the only thing that mattered.

"Come on! We have to get inside that jet."

Her reaction surprised no one and her fierce determination seemed to power both herself and everyone else onwards towards the plane and soon, with help of Jarvis, Howard and their innovative technology, an opening had been drilled into the side of the plane. Slowly each person lowered themselves down into the imposing looking jet and began to look around. Angie instantly disliked the sensation of being in the enclosed room. It was freezing yet stuffy at the same time. There was no natural light coming in, save from the opening they had drilled to get inside. The sensation reminded Angie of the time she had played hide and seek and trapped herself inside a closet with a faulty lock. It was stifling and terrifying, there was no fresh air coming inside the room and the snow outside looked as if it would burst through the cracked glass windows any moment and engulf them all. This prospect terrified Angie, who had always been particularly prone to being claustrophobic anyways. Her least favorite job in acting school had been the tedious task of having to crawl through the various winding paths underneath the stage. The ever present fear of having the floorboards collapse from above her kept her from traveling through the passageways and she often risked the possibility of being late for her stage cues if only to avoid the clustered, dark path underneath the stage. The mounting sense of claustrophobia was starting to get to her, but on the up side, it served as strong incentive for her to look all the more diligently around the plane for any sign of Captain America. Then she saw it. A hint of red white and blue, the famous shield of Captain America, sticking just out of the mountains of accumulated snow.

"Peggy! I found the shield! It's over here!"

Peggy raced over and brushed away some snow. "If his shield is here, he must be close by!" she exclaimed.

She looked around to see the reactions of the others in her party but nobody said a word.

Thompson remained unmoving and murmured a soft "shhh." He turned his gaze upwards toward the opening at the top of the jet and we all followed suit. At first there was nothing, but then, the ever so slight sound of snow crunching echoed from above us. Footsteps. Then nothing. They were bound in a sort of suspended silence that often came before something, good or bad, was about to happen. Struggling to reassure herself, Angie's mind was occupied with trying to figure the best case scenario. But before she could assume what was about to happen, multiple figures descended into the jet. None were recognizable to her, they were all clothed in dark, shapeless clothing that hid their faces. The sound of gunfire filled the room and Angie instinctively ducked down. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Peggy spring up to her feet and join the fight. Wanting to help, Angie's first action was to rush forward and help but her feet only carried her two steps before she realized that she was completely unarmed and would be no help at all. Time seemed to flow fluidly around them and the noise sounding from around Angie echoed in her ears in a manner that could only describe as liquid. All of a sudden, Angie right side was engulfed in fire. Not literal fire, as she realized after she looked at it in shock, but coat was soaked in red. The pain was so intense that she was half surprised when she saw that there were no literal flames searing her shoulder. Still she staggered at after a moment, the metallic smell of blood made her gag and she felt lightheaded; a sensation not caused solely by the smell but by her obvious injury. She sank to my knees, then gracelessly rolled onto her side. An overwhelming sense of fatigue now overcame her, she longed to close her eyes, her eyelids felt to heavy. _No, I can't! _From somewhere, the little part of Angie's mind that was still clear commanded her to stay awake. She exhaled and in the increasingly delirious state she was in, probably from blood loss, she studied the little cloud of fog her breath had made. It settled on something red and blue. Stripes. Angie rolled onto her other side. The fight was still raging on. Jack was nearly pushed up against the wall fighting a tall man with a metal arm. _Metal arm, Bucky_. Angie's groggy mind was struggling to form thoughts but she was quite sure she wouldn't mistake Bucky for someone else. Jack was still fighting, but in a moment, Bucky, who was superhumanly strong, had disarmed Jack, kicking his gun out of his hand. Bucky then pulled out a gun of his own and pointed it at and Jack. _I have to do something!_ Angie thought with a rising sense of panic. With almost superhuman effort of her own, she pulled herself up and caught hold of the thick piece of metal behind her. Just as she had thought, it was Captain America's famous shield. _I must be out of my mind if I think I can throw this. It's so heavy and they're so far away. And I've never even held a shield in my life! _She stopped her train of thoughts and realized she had to buy myself time.

"BUCKY!"

It worked; he turned around to stare at the sudden unfamiliar voice. At that moment, in a wild moment of faith in herself, Angie threw the shield towards him, if only to distract him, with all her strength. She had only half a moment to wonder if she had thrown it accurately, because at the moment she released the shield, the world spun in circles around her and everything went black.

**Hi everyone! So sorry it took me such a long time to update this! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Big thank you to everyone who reviewed! I read your comments and am keeping them in mind as I continue with this story. Thank you again!**

**-Evelyn-ecrivaine**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"Angie?"

Angie blinked her eyes at the sound of Peggy's voice.

"Angie, are you alright?"

There was a dull ache in Angie's shoulder, but she ignored for for the time being. "Where am I?" she murmurred.

Peggy smiled, "Back on the plane, Angie!" There was an element of giddiness in her voice and Angie, her mind still foggy, wondered what Peggy could be so excited about. The events of the last few hours- or was it days- were still hard to remember for Angie and she struggled to recall exactly what had happened. "English?"

"What?"

"What are you so excited about?"

She grinned and began to speak in a flurry. "We did it, Angie! We saved Steve!"

"Steve… Oh! Right!" The memories suddenly flooded back to her and she sat up in a hurry to meet Peggy's gaze. "So, he's alright now?"

Peggy nodded. "Yes, he is." She turned and called in the direction of the front of the plane. "Steve!"

The door opened and out walked Captain America. Angie was stunned to see him; she had never imagined she would meet the famous Captain America.

Peggy embraced him and took his hand. "Steve, this is Angie."

Steve smiled sweetly and nodded to Angie. "I hear you were a big help to Peggy. Thank you for keeping her company and being such a good friend to her."

Angie blushed pink. "You're welcome, I-um, I'm glad you're back."

Peggy hugged her. "Thank you so much, Angie. For everything."

"You're welcome," Angie murmured back. "English? Where's Jack?"

"Oh, he's in the back room. He said he wanted to talk to you," Peggy replied.

That was motivation enough for Angie to leap to her feet and hurry towards the back of the plane. She knocked softly on the door and waited for the call of "come in" before she opened it.

Thompson sat by the window, his blonde hair slightly disheveled, and his handsome, pondering face turned to the view of the clouds outside.

"Hi." Angie said softly.

"Hi."

There was a long pause and Angie waited for Thompson to speak, wondering all the while, what it was that he had to tell her.

Finally, he spoke. "I just wanted to-um, say thank you."

"You're welcome."

"That was very heroic of you."

"It was the right thing to do."

Another long silence. "Do you want to sit down?" Thompson inquired.

Angie took a seat beside him and turned her gaze to his face. "I was wondering something," she started. "Was there any sign of Bucky after we left?"

Thompson shook his head with pity. He knew the news would be crushingly disappointing to her and saw the dejected look on her face. "So," he said, quickly changing the subject, "It's back to New York for us, I suppose?"

Angie nodded, expressionless. "I suppose."

"Back to the theatre?"

The thought of going back to being a stagehand, always being confined to the dusty theatre, made Angie frown. The events of the past weeks- although filled with trials and difficulties, along with uncertainty and endless challenges- had opened her eyes to how big the world was beyond New York City. It had shown her how much there was in the world that needed fixing. Helping save Steve had taught her how much good she could do. How boring New York would be, now that she knew about the adventures that the world held for those who sought adventure out. But, theatre was where she had always been, and undoubtedly, was where she would be going back to. "Back to the theatre," Angie affirmed.

Thompson had always heard the actresses were especially expressive and Angie was no different. Her reluctance at having to return to ordinary life was apparent in her face. He had been pondering what he was about to ask her for the past few days, but he had been unsure if it was the right choice. However, Angie saving his life had banished all his doubt and helped him finally make the decision. "So," he began, "I wanted to ask you a question."

Angie looked up curiously and waited for him to continue.

Thompson went on, saying, "So, with Captain Rogers back, no doubt him and Peggy will be working together and…" He smiled at Angie, "That leaves me in need of a partner."

Angie's face wore a look of utter surprise. "Me?" she asked in astonishment. "You want _me_ to be your partner?"

"Well, yes. Agent Carter works for the SSR."

"But, I'm not Peggy! I've never been trained for any of this…" Angie stopped mid-sentence, trying to find an adequate word for the journey she had embarked on in the last weeks. "_Stuff_!" she decided. "I've never learned about any of this _spy stuff, this Agent business_!"

Thompson smiled in amusement. "Well, you can always learn, your acting skills will be helpful and the bottom line?: Someone who helped Agent Carter rescue Captain America and along with that, saved my life in the process, should be an agent."

Angie contemplated what he was saying. Maybe being Thompson's partner was what the future held in store for her. She was anything but eager to return to being a stagehand and this was the chance that she needed. She could continue to spend time with her closest friend, Peggy, and Thompson, who she had grown fond of. What adventures the future held for her was a matter of uncertainty, but Angie was certain that if she didn't take this opportunity, she would forever regret losing her chance.

"Agent Angie Martinelli," Angie said. "I quite like the sound of that," she smiled.

"Is that a yes?" Thompson asked.

Angie laughed. "Obviously."

**Hi everyone! Last chapter! I hope you enjoyed reading this story and I hope that the story turned out in a way that you all like! What did you think of it all? Also, I was thinking of writing another Agent Carter story, possibly a sequel for this one and I'm curious in what you would be interested in reading. Please feel free to let me know what you want to see for a future Agent Carter story in the reviews and I will definitely keep your feedback and lovely opinions in mind when writing. Stay tuned for the next story and thank you so much for reading, I am so grateful to my readers and look forward to writing more soon!**

**-Evelyn-ecrivaine**


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